IEP Establish a Centre for Employability Excellence
A global repository of evidence and reporting about ‘what works and why in employability best practice.
Multicultural Apprenticeship Alliance patron, IEP, took its first steps to establish a Centre for Employability Excellence at a Virtual Roundtable hosted by IEP’s Group Chief Executive, Scott Parkin FIEP and David Imber FIEP on Employability Day, 30th June 2023.
Joined by an esteemed group of academics, researchers, and senior employability stakeholders from the UK, Australia, Estonia, Finland, Sweden and United States, representing a wide range of international universities and organisations, including Deakin University and Monash University (Australia), University of Vaasa (Finland), Folkuniversitetet (Sweden), Anderson University (South Carolina, US), Eesti Töötukassa (Estonia), Disability Employment Australia, Nous Group and Apprenticeship Employment Network (Australia).
From the UK, Universities contributing to the Roundtable included Sheffield Hallam, Leeds Trinity, Derby and Portsmouth, and organisations World Association of Public Employment Services WAPES, Association of Colleges, DWP, Mesma, Belina GRoW CIC and Institute for Employment Studies with further representatives from Manchester Metropolitan University, The University of Edinburgh and the University of Strathclyde Glasgow joining in future discussions.
The Centre for Employability Excellence aims to provide a comprehensive platform for research and good practice, open to all sectors of the employability profession. This is a simple resource that will help us all work together, encourage open discussion, share our insights, and develop the quality of employability services globally.
Our vision is that the Centre will collect, catalogue, identify, and signpost access to original research and best practice, providing valuable resources for researchers, commissioners, policymakers, employability delivery organisations and employability professionals. Our first practical goal is to create an index that helps users to identify the sources and the resources most relevant, informative, and valuable to themselves.
This work will encourage the application and support of the work of academics and institutions across the UK and overseas, helping to link quality assurance and continuous improvement to best practices and learning so that anyone involved in employability can provide the most effective possible support. It will also contribute to commissioning and delivering high-quality, effective programmes and support open discussion on the complex questions surrounding any employability delivery.
A fundamental guiding principle is ensuring the Centre for Employability Excellence operates inclusively and openly with a large group of interested and engaged UK and International stakeholders. We look forward to future roundtables to enhance our existing partners’ contributions and build new partnerships with individuals and organisations who can help us all achieve maximum value from the Centre. We also look forward to continuing the discussions around the best ways to reach our goals and to enable the broader sharing of ideas, research, knowledge and best practice, improving effective delivery methods globally.